First the sermon: Representing your country by throwing a ball through a circle is not patriotism. It is pride, and there is plenty to be said about that. Patriotism is what our servicemen are doing in harm's way and in support of those in harm's way.

Which gets us to what routinely becomes equated with patriotism when it comes to international play by NBA players, namely participation on a national team.

Yes, there certainly are patriotic stirrings when a U.S. athlete represents his national colors in international competitions, particularly the Olympics.

In coming days, 34 potential USA Basketball candidates for the team that will represent the United State in the 2016 Rio Games will assemble for a training camp in Las Vegas, just as they did last summer, before going on to win the World Cup in Spain.

This, of course, also was the timeframe when Indiana Pacers forward Paul George, while preparing for the World Cup, splintered his leg during a warm-up scrimmage in Las Vegas. He did not resurface until a late-season game against the Miami Heat, unable to help the Pacers complete a late-season push for a playoff spot.

Then, this past week, Utah Jazz prodigy Dante Exum shattered a knee while competing for Australia during an international exhibition against Slovenia, the team that had hoped to feature Heat guard Goran Dragic. Dragic bypassed that obligation to be with his pregnant wife.

The pressure to compete internationally, especially for overseas NBA players, is severe. Dragic well could find himself in Rio a year from now.

New Heat guard Gerald Green makes it clear he is more than a dunking sensation

New Heat guard Gerald Green makes it clear he is more than a dunking sensation

But just this past week, Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball Chairman and National Team Managing Director, spoke of leaving the door open for LeBron James, who won Olympic gold while with the Heat in 2012. In some cases, recycling just makes sense. And, face it, LeBron makes sense for any team, no matter the amount of advance work he puts into the process (James is merely showing up for the first day of USA Basketball meetings, then moving on to previous promotional commitments).

While an Olympic berth is only right for George, considering the sacrifice he made a year ago, NBA teams also have the right to be wary (and weary) of this continual cycle that annually has players either preparing for or participating in the World Cup (formerly the World Championships) or Olympics.

Even USA Basketball seems to get that part of the concern, making the upcoming mini-camp a non-contact period, including the scrimmage that will close the camp, nothing like the scrimmage that cost George almost all of this past season.

"Some players are coming off of injuries and are not yet ready to actively participate, or they are getting ready for their NBA seasons," Colangelo said of what typically is the case annually for NBA players. "So it's a good thing that we don't have a competition to get ready for this summer."

So here's the solution, at least when it comes to the domestic product: Make international competition like the experience most of these players dealt with in college -- one and done, something USA national coach Mike Krzyzewski certainly is familiar with at Duke.

Now that international competition for USA Basketball essentially is NBA only (with the occasional Anthony Davis mixed in), there should be ample bodies available to cycle through every two years (one year in training, one year in either the World Cup or Olympics). If a player views the Olympics as more prestigious, then wait for that cycle.

While other countries certainly could barely afford to limit their Dragics or Exums to a single Olympic or World Cup cycle, such will have to be the concessions of teams signing such international talent.

But it at least would be a means to limit the wear on the majority of NBA players otherwise caught in the misstated call to patriotic duty, while also protecting the league that has done so much to prepare these players for such international stages in the first place.

IN THE LANE

OVER THERE: The Heat's summer world tour has included Dwyane Wade's annual promotional visit to China, Gerald Green working a basketball clinic in Guam, Tyler Johnson and Hassan Whiteside spending time together at a basketball camp in Italy, and James Ennis returning to Australia, where he stared in 2013-14, after being selected and stashed by the Heat out of the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft. While on that promotional tour, Ennis spoke of his reasoning behind bypassing his Aug. 1 deadline for a 50-percent partial guarantee of his 2015-16 Heat contract to instead establish an opening-night deadline for a season-long guarantee. "I don't want to be partially guaranteed, I want to be fully guaranteed," he told the West Australian. "I'm really confident in myself, so that's why I pushed it back. I just can't wait for training camp so that I can open everybody's eyes again." During his trip, there was conjecture of Ennis establishing a fallback option with the Perth Wildcats, the team he led in 2013-14. "If things don't pan out in Miami, I'll be back overseas, back to Perth," he told the newspaper. "In the future, that's my main goal, to finish my career here. I love Perth."

OVER THERE II: Green said his just-concluded trip to Guam alongside Cleveland Cavaliers free-agent guard J.R. Smith was an eye-opener. "It was really good," he said during his appearance at the Heat's youth basketball camp. "I mean, I played overseas in several different countries. So I really got to kind of see the different cultures everybody has. Even though Guam is a part of the U.S., it's still far away. So for me to go over there and try to help them get better as far as basketball knowledge and being there for some of those kids who might not ever leave the island was a good experience for me." The appearance included the requisite dunking exhibition by Green. Green said he already has been welcomed to South Florida by Heat center Chris Bosh and guard Goran Dragic, a former Phoenix Suns teammate. "Bosh reached out to me a few days ago to let me know he's excited I'm on the team. Me and Goran are still really good friends. I've gotten to speak to a couple of people, but not everybody yet."

THE OTHER HIRE: Lost in the Sacramento Kings' hiring of Nancy Lieberman as assistant coach was the concurrent agreement to add former Heat guard Anthony Carter to George Karl's coaching staff. It was during his tenure playing for Karl with the Denver Nuggets that Carter mentioned the possibility of sliding into a coaching career upon retirement. Carter spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs, the San Antonio Spurs' affiliate in the NBA Development League. In addition to his time with the Heat and Nuggets, Carter's 14-year NBA career also included stints with San Antonio, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks. Both Lieberman, who becomes the second female assistant coach in the NBA (after San Antonio's Becky Hammon) and Carter worked with the Kings' coaching staff during summer league.

NUMBER

66. Number of NBA players who have worn No. 0, the number recently selected by Heat second-round pick Josh Richardson, the guard out of Tennessee, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Among those to wear the number in an NBA game were Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas with the Heat, former Heat forward Michael Beasley with the Phoenix Suns, former Heat guard Voshon Lenard with the Portland Trail Blazers, former Heat forward Shawn Marion with the Dallas Mavericks, former University of Miami guard Shane Larkin last season with the Knicks, and Lionel Chalmers, Mario Chalmers' cousin, with the Los Angeles Clippers.

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman